


Fun and Games

by Chibi_Pix



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender, new rover drone, season six, team avatar-like antics, the garrison trio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23042884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibi_Pix/pseuds/Chibi_Pix
Summary: What happens when the Garrison Trio can take a break at a Galran base? Knowing Pidge, Lance, and Hunk, trouble and good fun.
Relationships: Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Fun and Games

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, Rueitae, for beta reading this for me and helping out with the edits! Much appreciated!

The universe would often forget the fact that Pidge, Hunk, and Lance were still young. Teenagers. Practically children. Only one person in the entire universe had ever acknowledged the fact that Pidge was still a child. Of course, Haxus had been an enemy Galra and tried to kill her; someone was not winning  _ dad of the deca-phoeb _ award that year. Despite Pidge’s vehemence that she was not a child and rather a Paladin of Voltron, though, they  _ were _ all still children and as such, children needed a healthy balance of work and fun.

Being a Paladin of Voltron did not always give them time for fun, but they did the best they could. So when they found themselves at a Galra base when a call for assistance was made, they decided it was high time they took a slight break. Stress, they agreed, was not good on them.

“Man!” Lance grunted, stretching his hands high over his head after leaving Blue. “That Sendak! He’s all bark and no bite! Once we showed up, he had his tail between his legs and got the hell out of Dodge!”

“He was probably baiting us or hoping Lotor would show up so he could fight him.” Pidge rationalized.

“I like my idea better.”

“You would.”

“Welcome to the Themis base; I am Commander Zevla.” a Galra introduced herself as she approached. The way she introduced herself, she seemed level headed and rational, much like Bogh of the Omega Shield station. “This is my lieutenant, Khandox.” The male-coded Galra standing to the side and slightly behind her nodded a silent greeting toward the kids. Zevla then looked the paladins over, her nearly-feline ears twitching downward. “Are you… really the Paladins?”

“Oh c’mon!” Lance whined. “I know we’re small, but I swear, we’re tougher than we look.”

“But… you’re just children.” Zevla’s eyes were wide. “What is that princess of yours thinking? Sending children into battle! Does Emperor Lotor even know of this?” The others were stunned. Of all things, that was what had her attention? Their youth? And she seemed angry, too, but not at them.

“Huh? We’re not children.” Lance pointed out, crossing his arms. “Back on my planet, I’m probably about eighteen years old now. That’s an adult!” Probably? Well, it was sometimes hard to keep track of time out in space.

Zevla raised a brow. “And of you two?” she inquired.

“Eighteen; I’m actually the oldest of us three.” Hunk was a bit sheepish as he put his hand up. “And Pidge is either… fourteen? Fifteen?” He looked down.

“Fifteen or sixteen.” the gremlin clarified.

“Right. She’s the youngest of us.” Hunk nodded.

The muscle under Zevla’s right eye twitched. They weren’t just small, they were young! They were children! One of them wasn’t even the legal age to enlist as a cadet in the eyes of the Galra. “Khandox! See to it that they have a proper guide for the base and make sure it is known that these three are our guests.” she ordered. “Then take command until I return.”

“Ma’am?” Khandox inquired.

“I’m going to contact Central Command; there are concerns I need to voice about this to their princess and the Emperor.” With a snarl, Zevla spun on her heel and stormed off.

“Um… what was that about?” Hunk inquired.

“Well… by Galra rule, you three are technically too young to be soldiers.” Khandox informed. “Cadets are eighteen deca-phoebs when they go into training; this allows them to physically mature more before officially training. And training takes several deca-phoebs before they are able to enlist as soldiers, ensuring they’ve improved, honed their skills, and are competent enough for battle.” He motioned for the others to follow him. “You three are still children, especially the littlest one.” He gave a somber sigh. “To send children into battle…” The Paladins could tell he wanted to ask if their princess was truly that desperate.

If they were being honest, though, Allura  _ had _ been desperate. And Sendak hadn’t given them much of a choice.

“The commander is especially protective of children; she has some of her own, her youngest only starting their training a phoeb ago.” Khandox informed, thinking it would help the paladins understand why Zevla seemed so upset.

“Hell hath no fury like a protective mom.” Pidge stated, Hunk and Lance nodding in agreement.

“If you don’t mind my asking, do your parents even know you’re out here?” Khandox questioned. Silence. Glances of nervousness. “I’ll take that as a  _ no. _ ” The lieutenant let out a sigh. Children out in a war, fighting, and their parents didn’t even know? Were the rebels that desperate? Was fate that cruel? “Anyway,” he stopped by a room; from the sounds of things inside, it seemed like a common room, “wait a few ticks, I’ll get someone to show you around.” He went in, leaving the Paladins alone for a bit.

“Jeez… we’re not that young… we don’t need a babysitter...” Lance muttered.

“I think this is more like a guide so we don’t get lost. I mean, we’re literally at a large base, not just a ship or command station, but a legit base.” Hunk pointed out. “I mean, look at this place. They probably create all sorts of things to distribute all over the universe.”

Pidge listened to the boys for a moment before noticing a cart. On it were discarded and damaged looking sentries. But among them was a powered down drone. Curious, she pranced over and picked the drone up, thinking of Rover. The drone she once had. The drone she lost. The drone she couldn’t bring herself to reboot after recovering.

“It doesn’t work; no matter how it’s programmed, it’s faulty and doesn’t do its job.” a Galra informed Pidge, surprising the smallest paladin. He must have been working a simple job of collecting the old tech; hey, someone had to do the job, right?

“So… it’s defective?” Pidge asked. “What’s it do when operational?”

“Acts like it has a mind of it’s own. We don’t know where the AI came from or how it got on there… or how to remove it. When checked, we can’t find anything.” the Galra admitted, crossing his arms. He seemed frustrated with it. “But that’s tech for you; all the advancements in the universe, sometimes things are defective.”

“Can I have him?” Pidge inquired. The Galra looked confused. “I think I can work with this.”

“Um...”

Khandox approached them. “I will check in with the commander; for the time being, hold onto it in case she allows this.” he stated.

“Yes!” Pidge grinned as she sat down on the floor, opening the drone up. She tweaked with its wiring and booted it up. “Hey there!” It beeped happily. “I’m gonna call you… Rover 2.0, or just Rover. I hope the commander lets me keep you.”

“2.0?” a new Galra beside the lieutenant questioned. “As in there was a first?”

“It was a tragedy...” Pidge forced herself to sniffle, hoping the others would just see her as a sad child and not press her. They didn’t and the one by the lieutenant hugged her, just like they were comforting a child.

“Anyway, I have work to do.” Khandox reminded. “I will put in the request for you to keep the drone. Until your departure, Ryl here will be your guide. Just… try not to cause trouble.”

“Oh c’mon, we’re Paladins of Voltron. How much trouble could we possibly get into?” Lance scoffed.

“Even before we became Paladins, I can’t even count the times we’ve gotten into trouble on both hands and feet...” Hunk deadpanned. “It’s a wonder none of us were ever expelled...”

“This… is going to be an interesting time...” Ryl commented, unsure of what the lieutenant just signed them up for.

Of course, interesting perhaps was an understatement. Especially when three teens would inevitably see a set of pathways. Upon questioning them, Ryl informed them that though primitive, the paths used a series of conveyor belts and chutes to send storage and shipping crates around the base. It may have been low-tech, but it got the job done.

And it prompted the Paladins to disappear when Ryl turned their back. By the time they realized that the kids weren’t there, the trio was long gone. “Oh you have got to be kidding me… Lieutenant Khandox is going to have my ears for this...”

Meanwhile, Pidge found the perfect place to execute her plan, running the algorithm for it through the tech on her armor. “Okay, everything is set, I’ve hacked into a few points for this to work, you boys ready for the greatest slide we’ll probably ever experience in the universe?”

“Hell yeah!” Lance cheered, getting excited.

“Um… question. Is this even legal?” Hunk asked. “Won’t we get into trouble? What if we get into trouble? I don’t doubt your algorithm, but what if someone overrides your work? What if we get hurt? What if we hurt someone?”

“That’s more than one question, buddy.” Lance blinked.

“It’ll be fine.” Pidge waved it off. “Oi, you two,” she looked to two corporals on duty, “is it legal to use the chutes as slides?”

“Um… well...” Neither were sure as one of them spoke. “No one’s tried, so rules haven’t been placed...”

“Okay, then it’s not illegal.”

“That doesn’t make it legal, Pidge!” Hunk exclaimed.

“Details; if we get into trouble, I’ll just let them know we were trying to have fun.” Pidge shrugged her shoulders. Of course she probably would succeed in that one; Zevla probably had a soft spot for children and the three were still kids, Pidge being the youngest. If anyone could talk them out of trouble with the commander, it’d be her. She then motioned to the shipping crate without a lid. “Ready?”

“Let’s do this!” Lance got in position in the back. Mumbling his concerns, Hunk still joined in by sitting in the middle.

“Okay, guys, on my cue, hit that button.” Pidge told the Galra on duty. She then took her spot at the front, the new Rover settling on her head and helping to keep her programming for the ride in check. “One for the money! Two for the show! Three to get ready! And four to GO!” And they were off. One of the corporals pressed the button at Pidge’s command, however strange he found her phrasing of things to be, sending the crate over the edge.

“Are we going to get into trouble?” one of them asked, looking over the edge and wincing at Hunks call of what could only be described as fear.

“Hopefully we don’t.” the other responded.

“Holy crow. Holy crow! We’re gonna die!” Hunk whined, his hands at a death grip on the rim of the crate they were in. “Pidge! I’m really reconsidering this thing! I don’t think it’s meant for people! Let alone humans!”

“Are you kidding? This is awesome!” Lance cheered, his hands up in the air. “Whoo!”

Pidge grinned. At least until Rover beeped down at her; how that drone managed to stay on her head was perhaps beyond logic, but they were in space, at a Galran base, and turning their delivery system into the greatest slide, so logic was pretty much sent out through the airlock. What did have her attention, though, was the fact that Rover alerted the gremlin to something.

“Huh?” Pidge checked her tech, going over the data.  _ Oops, should’ve found a way to lock everyone out of the system until we finished. _ She thought, finding that someone overrode her hacked programming. “Well, things are about to get interesting from here.”

“How interesting?” Lance questioned, looking around a very horrified Hunk. He then looked back, seeing a shipping pallet with weapons nearing them. “That’s not interesting!”

“Pidge, can’t you do something?!” Hunk cried.

“So demanding.” Pidge rolled her eyes before checking the tech. She nodded and hacked into another part where the path split up ahead. The best way was to get their two crates to go down different paths. Whether or not messing with that would screw them over, well…  _ That’s something for future Pidge to worry about. _ She thought, going with her plan to quickly change tracks. “Hey! It worked!”

“Um… Pidge? Pidge, I hate to be the voice of reason-”

“Clearly you don’t since you always are!” Lance interjected.

“-but aren’t we going too fast for that curve?” Hunk pointed ahead.

_ Oh… right… future Pidge's worry. _ Pidge stared ahead. “Oops.” That was all they could manage before flinging off the path and continuing with their ride, no matter how unexpected it turned, gravity not at all helping the friction to slow them down.

In Zevla’s command station, she was talking with Lotor and Allura, the two still at Central Command. She had voiced her concerns to the two about letting children fight in a war. “With all due respect, it’s a horrible decision.”

**“Yes, and had the situation not been dire or other options were available, I would have taken them back home the moment I learned they were still just children.”** Allura informed.  **“But they are more capable than one would think. Perhaps it is their youth that helps, not because they’re young in general, but they have a future to strive for and the Lions** **_chose_ ** **them.”**

“I suppose.” Zevla admitted. She then jumped, the fur on her body standing on ends, when she heard a horrible crashing noise. She looked out of the center’s window, seeing some damage to the base.

**“What the quiznak was that?”** Allura questioned, hearing the sound through the communications link.

**“Commander Zevla, is all well?”** Lotor inquired.

“I am unsure, my Emperor.” Zevla responded. “I will investigate and contact you later.”

**“Hopefully it is nothing bad.”** Lotor nodded.

**“If your base is being attacked, the Paladins will help to protect it.”** Allura assured.

Zevla nodded in response, but her gut told her that it may have been those children instead. Once she closed out of their video communication, she went to check on things.

In another part of the base, a high ranking soldier was finishing with a lecture to some new recruits, getting them ready for their first day at the Themis base. “Remember, soldiers,” the older one said to the others, “Themis may be relatively easygoing, but we are still in an active war; anything could and will happen. You need to be diligent! It is important to be prepared for anything!”

As if the universe had a sick sense of humour, that was when the shipping crate with the three Paladins in it came crashing down in front of them, startling the young, fresh from training soldiers. It had enough inertia with the velocity it had reached that it kept on going until it crashed into a wall, the force finally stopping them.

“Um… sir?” One of the soldiers raised their hand. “How do we prepare for something like… that?”

The commanding officer blinked. He thought he’d seen it all in his time. Nope. Nothing like this. “Even I’m not prepared for this...”

“What is going on here!?” Zevla was on the scene in a matter of ticks, a very nervous Ryl and an exasperated Khandox right behind her. The other officer explained how the crate seemed to come out of nowhere and just crashed. Zevla approached, seeing the children there.

“That. Was. Awesome.” Lance chuckled. He then noticed the cold, hard stare given to him by the commander. “Um…”

“What is the meaning of this?” Zevla inquired.

“I thought I’d reprogram a few things while we were here.” Pidge shifted her glasses. “Just temporarily, that is. All of the paths, ramps, and whatnot, it’s like a giant amusement park and I thought it would be fun to use them like a giant slide.” She chuckled nervously. “But I miscalculated a few minor details and we went crashing instead.” She then sighed as she climbed out of the crate. “I’m sorry for the damages we caused...” Zevla stared at the three, Lance and Hunk worried and Pidge fidgeting with her glasses; Rover made a sad-sounding beep as the drone hid behind the green paladin. “If you’re angry, don’t yell at Lance and Hunk; it was my idea and calculations that caused this. I’ll find a way to repay you.”

“Pidge...” Lance whispered, not to tell her to stop, but to sound sincere. He felt as much to blame for this as she did; he wanted this ride as much as she did. But there she was, putting herself out there, ready for any punishment.

“I’ve been running this base for many deca-phoebs; I’ve been raised some of my children here.” Zevla’s tone was stern. “Never in my time since the moment I came to work at this base as a corporal have I ever seen anyone use the shipping system for recreational use. And with that...” All three Paladins winced. She had to be angry. Right? “I feel ashamed that I’ve never thought of it being used for fun.”

“Huh?” Hunk did a double-take. “Wait… did I hear that right?”

“Commander?” Khandox inquired.

“If you let me try again, you could experience the fun for yourself. Hopefully with less damage.” Pidge grinned brightly.

“Leave me out of it. Once was enough.” Hunk grumbled, sinking down into the crate after Lance pulled himself out.

“You did well, buddy; we won’t get you on the next one.” Lance chuckled, leaning in and patting Hunk’s head. “So. Does this mean we’re going for round two?”

“Let me contact your princess and let her know all is fine, then I’d like to experience using the system for recreational use.” Zevla stated. Lance and Pidge grinned, happy to have found a Galra who was interested in having fun. They just had to hope things went well and that they didn’t cause any more damage. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yup, for those who know Avatar: The Last Airbender, you can definitely see where my inspiration came from. It started as a drawing from that scene in Omashu, and I decided to finally write it.


End file.
